Monday, February 2, 2009

Kick The Truth to the Young Black Youth: Black teen STD rate needs our attention

Black teen STD rate needs our attention

By Yolanda Young


Once again, a study has found a wide gap between blacks and whites, and yet again the news is not good for African-Americans.


The latest study, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows that an alarming 48% of African-American girls ages 14-19 have a sexually transmitted disease, compared with 20% of young white and Mexican-American females. The CDC analyzed data on 838 female adolescents who participated in the 2003-04 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The researchers found that black teens had far greater rates of common STDs, including human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus and trichomoniasis.


Sadly, this is not a new trend.


Though this study did not include syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV because of their low prevalence in this age group, these diseases strike black women in later years at strikingly high rates. In 2006, the rate of chlamydia cases among black women was more than seven times that of white women; the gonorrhea rate among African-American women was 18 times greater than for whites; and the rate of syphilis cases in black women was 16 times higher than in white women.


Why the disparity?

* STDs are concentrated in poor, segregated neighborhoods.

* Sexuality of teens starts earlier and earlier, heightened by music lyrics and images on television.

* More than 20% of blacks are uninsured. So without access to health care, more blacks with STDs go untreated while the diseases are often undetected.


The significance of this problem can't be overstated, as STDs also can cause infertility and cervical cancer.


What can be done? The CDC suggests sex with an uninfected monogamous partner and habitual condom use. Abstinence, of course, is the surest way to avoid STDs.


But advice isn't enough. With incidence levels already high among young black women, more emphasis should be placed on STD screening, treatment, and vaccinations at health clinics where contraceptive services are also offered. Ultimately, we must reverse this trend of early sexual activity. The CDC suggests that sex education delays sexual activity among teens.


What else might influence girls? Father figures who affirm them and women who demonstrate responsible sexual behavior that girls could emulate. This is not science, just my opinion based on what I've seen.


But one thing we should all agree on is that this is an issue that blacks can't afford to ignore. We need more talking and less doing.


http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/04/black-teen-std.html